Beginner Guide
This guide is filled with links and tips that will help you go from a beginner to an expert, if you pay attention! Vital Information Some information that you really need to know: * Plague Inc.- The reason you are on this page * DNA Points- The in-game currency for evolving Transmissions, Symptoms and Abilities. * Transmissions- Evolutions that change your disease's spreading ability, through many vectors. * Symptoms- Evolutions that can infect and kill people, but can get you detected. * Abilities- Allow your disease to change some of its properties, such as increasing effectiveness in special climates or slowing down the pharmaceutical corporations from profiting off of you. Tips: * First, be patient. The game can be hard to beat sometimes. No one ever wins on Mega-brutal on their first time playing (except for those who use strategy guides successfully or are just lucky). Check the links for more information on the concept. If you are stuck, don't give up. Keep going until you finally get it. * Strategize. No one would find it easy to beat Bacteria by randomly tapping evolutions. Again, be sure to check out the links for strategies. Also, learn, memorize, and use anything important. For example, know and use the fact that you need at least 32 DNA Points to get Total Organ Failure from nothing (unless you have genes like sympto-stasis, which would make it 27). The strategy guides have helped many beat every plague on Mega Brutal, so you need to check them out here. * Be aware. Some pop ups are important, and ignoring them could prove problematic. A notification of your plague mutating is important, because ignoring it could get your plague noticed quick. If you want to remember to read the popups, turn extra popups off. Remember: Humans can get paranoid over a disease with 4 points of severity, so be careful. Other pop ups include "New Airplane Sterilization Techniques", which can cripple infection rates internationally if ignored. * Humans will not just fall over and die. They will fight as hard as they can to stay alive (unless you are on casual, where love trumps sanity). They will execute various safety methods. One example: "All Flights Banned in country" will completely stop airplanes from taking off. See Government actions for more information. Standard Plague Types Bacteria * Bacteria- The first plague type. Can be made resistant to climates. * Bacterial Resilience- Makes Bacteria more resistant to extreme climates. Tips: * Bacteria is very easy to use and control, and it is the most common life form on Earth in real life. This is likely the reason that it is the first plague you get. * Bacterial resilience is a hoax. It barely increases effectiveness in extreme climates. Rather, evolve cold resistance and heat resistance to sharply increase effectiveness and specialize your plague. * Beating a plague on Normal will unlock the next plague, so you need to prove yourself to keep going. * One example of a gene combo for Bacteria is ATP Boost, Genetic Mimic, Aerocyte, Xerophile, and Sympto-stasis. Virus * Virus- The next, rapidly mutating plague which can be made even more unstable. * Viral Instability- Makes Virus even more unstable. Can potentially override Creationist * Genetic Code- Allows you to customize some of your plague properties before the game. Tips: * Virus mutates much faster than bacteria, and is much harder to control. It also costs DNA Points to devolve. Embrace this and target evolving transmissions and abilities more. * If you want a fast game, use Virus. Virus' rapid mutation allows real quick games. * When you beat a game, you unlock genes that you can add to your disease before starting. There are five types of genes with five genes in them, making a total of 25 genes. * An example of a gene combo for Virus is Catalytic Switch, Teracyte, Translesion +, Genetic Mimic, and Extremophile. These are the genes: ATP Boost, Cytochrome Surge, Metabolic Jump, Catalytic Switch and Metabolic Hijack Teracyte, Aerocyte, Aquacyte, Suppression and Native Biome Ionized Helix, Translesion +, Sympto-Stasis, Trans-Stasis and Patho-Stasis Darwinist, Creationist, Genetic Mimic, Base Hydrolysis, Base Oxidisation Xerophile, Hydrophile, Rurophile, Urbophile, Extremophile Note: The Necroa Virus and the Simian Flu have their own genes, but we'll get to that later. Fungus *Fungus- Harder to spread by conventional methods (transmissions), but has a useful ability to make up. *Spore Burst- Randomly infects a new country. Can be used 12 times. *Spore Eruption- Infects multiple new countries. Can be used twice. *Spore Hardening- Continually releases spores, infinitely infecting new countries. Tips: *Using the gene Patho-Stasis allows you to infect several new countries at the start of the game, so genes are important with this type. This is not easy without Patho-Stasis, as you will be evolving many abilities. *Fungus can be slow if you don't use spore abilities so be sure to use them. *Unlike the other plagues, Fungus has two identical trees, each being Spore Burst six times, a Spore Eruption, and when both trees are done, Spore Hardening. *An example of a gene combo for Fungus is ATP Boost, Teracyte, Patho-Stasis, Darwinist, and Extremophile. Parasite *Parasite- Can be made harder to notice. *Symbiosis- Reduces severity. Tips: *Symbiosis is important in two ways: First is that Parasite has a relatively high amount of starting severity, which can be countered by this. Second, it allows you to get some low level symptoms without being noticed. You can get symptoms that increase infectivity without being noticed. *Note that Symbiosis does not reduce lethality and the reduction of severity makes it slightly easier to cure. *An example of a gene combo for Parasite is ATP Boost, Teracyte, Ionized Helix, Base Hydrolysis, and Extremophile. *It is recommended that Symbiosis is devolved when everyone is infected, for the DNA (why Ionized Helix is recommended), and for severity (to slow cure research). Prion *Prion- A brain disease that causes lethal protein deposits on the brain. *Neural Atrophy- Prion's ability that causes protein deposits on the brain, making it harder to research. Tips: *Getting Neural Atrophy at the start is important. Once you have it, your plague will be hard to research. Combined with Genetic Hardening, it is even harder to research. *In real life, prions actually do break your brain, but are not nearly as contagious as in game. Some real life prions include Scrapies for sheep, and the infamous Mad Cow Disease that makes it impossible for cows to stand. Poor cows. A form of prion called TSE causes brain tissue to become spongy, and destroys neural passageways. Also, prions in real life cannot be cured. *Strangely, Neural Atrophy does not increase severity, although the in-game description of NA3 includes the words "cell death" and "severe short term memory loss". This could be because the short-term memory loss prevents it from being noticed. *Prion is slow to react to evolution, making it possible to cure while still slowly raising it's lethality. This can make Brutal difficult, as humans will work hard and nearly always cure it before it reaches cap lethality. *Prion also spreads slightly slower than other plague types, so transmission evolutions are important. *An example for a gene combo for Prion is Catalytic Switch, Teracyte, Ionized Helix, Base Oxidisation, and Extremophile. *Prion, along with Virus, tend to be hard to handle for completely opposite reasons. Virus is very fast mutating and hard to control, while Prion is very slow and gives time to research. Nano-Virus *Nano-Virus- A mechanical virus that starts cure research at the start of the game. *Radical elements stabilised- Sets back cure by partially isolating kill switch. *Encryption breached- Further sets back cure research. *Broadcast interceptor overload- Renders cure useless for a short time. Renders disease more easily cured after period of cure immunity is over. *Code fragment interception- Slows cure research by a small amount. *Code segment interception- Further slows cure research. *Replication Factory overload- Makes Infectivity 100% for a period of time, but slightly reduces original infectivity when over. *Kill Switch Stasis- Minimises cure effectiveness. *Drug Immunity- Basically super Drug Resistance. Tips: *The Nano-virus cure broadcast starts as soon as the game begins, but it has a boost in most climates, likely because it is not actually alive. It is less effective in humid climates, however, likely because water and machines tend to not go well together. *Nano-virus symptom evolution is also cheaper, again likely due to cure starting immediately. Use this to your advantage. *An example of a gene combo for Nano virus is Metabolic Hijack, Aquacyte, Sympto-Stasis, Darwinist, and Hydrophile. Bio-Weapon *Bio-Weapon- An genetically modified disease that slowly releases deadly toxins. *Nucleic Acid Neutralisation- Freezes lethality raise for a few days *Gene Compression- Slows lethality raise *Deactivate modified genes- Reduces lethality a bit *Unlock Annihilate gene- 30 times worse than Total Organ Failure. Will wipe the world clean in a short amount of time. Tips: *Since the Bio-Weapon has increasing lethality, it can be hard to control. There is no notification telling you that the lethality raised, so regularly checking the disease menu is a good idea. *You need to finish all three anti-lethality ability paths to unlock Unlock Annihilate gene, so you will probably have it available when it's time. *Beating Bio-Weapon on Brutal isn't as tough as it sounds, but still be sure to check out the strategy guides. That doesn't mean it's easy at all, but if you're well prepared, it's relatively doable. *You will not need any symptoms, because of Unlock Annihilate gene's unbelievable lethality. Patho-stasis and trans-stasis are good genes to use. *An example of a gene combo for Bio-Weapon is Metabolic Jump, Aerocyte, Patho-Stasis, Base Hydrolysis and Extremophile. Special Plague Types Neurax Worm * Neurax Worm - A worm with the capability to control and take over humanity. (Two ways to win: Enslavement and Eradication) Transmissions * Concertina and Undulatory Locomotion - Pathway transmissions to the Air and Water transmissions. * Eggs 1 & 2 - Pathway transmissions to Water 3 and the Bird, Insect, and Rodent branches of transmission. * Genetic Swap, Mutative Regeneration 1 & 2 - Evolutions in the transmission category that increase mutation chance in the neurax worm. * Corpse Feeder 1 & 2 - Increases infectivity with corpses around. Abilities * Trojan Planes 1, 2, & 3 - Allow you to send planes to whatever country you want, including Greenland. Tips: * When first playing, remember that you can win in 2 ways. * Enslavement requires that you move left on the symptoms page while Eradication allows you to move any way on the symptoms page. * Remember that to get Air 1 and Water 1, Locomotion (Concertina and Undulatory) must be evolved. Necroa Virus * Necroa Virus - Virus that, once it infects, can rest in corpses and eventually reanimate them. * Z Com - Antagonist of the Necroa Virus, works to kill the zombies you have created. Simian Flu * Simian Flu - Flu that increases intelligence in apes while killing humans. * Gen-Sys - Company that accidentally released the virus, works like the Z Com in the Necroa Virus and the Templars in the Shadow Plague. The main antagonist of the Simian Flu. Shadow Plague * Shadow Plague - Creates a Vampire at the start, has an option to either kill all or to enslave humans after evolving the symptom Shadow Blessing. * Templars - Templar Industries that will protect humanities from your vampire, wipe them out first or it could result in a loss. * WHO laboratories - Only appears when Shadow Blessing is evolved, destroy them as soon as you see them appears or they would sky rocket the cure research. Cheat Plagues When you beat each normal plague on Brutal, you unlock cheat plagues. They are very useful, even though you cannot earn most achievements with them. Immune Strain Your disease is immune to cure. Hidden Strain Governments will no take action against you. Basically, an extended form of the immune strain. Unlimited Strain Unlimited DNA. Use it to learn about different evolutions and their effects. Turbo Strain Starting country is 100% infected. This is a good idea if you are impatient. Shuffle Strain In the Shuffle Strain, all evolutions are randomized. Lucky Dip Strain Start the game with 5 random evolutions. They also cannot be devolved. Double Strain Allows the disease to start in two countries. Category:Strategy